Hunting and gathering populations occupied the area of Guinea at least 30,000 years ago, and farming has been practiced there for about 3,000 years. About 1,000 years ago Susu and Malinke (Maninka) people began to encroach on the Baga, Koniagi (Coniagui), and Nalu (Nalou) populations who had been living in the area for more than 1,000 years. The towns and villages of Upper Guinea were incorporated into the Mali empire from the mid-13th century, and by the 16th century the Fulani (Fulbe) had established domination over the Fouta Djallon.

The Portuguese presence on the coast dates from the 15th century, and the slave trade continued to affect Guinea until the mid-19th century. British and French trading interests on the coast played minor roles in the historical evolution of the Guinean interior until the almamy (ruler) of Fouta Djallon placed his country under French protection in 1881. The independent Malinke state ruled by Samory Touré resisted the French military until 1898, and isolated small groups of Africans continued to resist the French until the end of World War I.

Colonial era

The French protectorate of Rivières du Sud was detached from Senegal as a separate colony in 1890. As French Guinea it became part of the Federation of French West Africa in 1895. Treaties with Liberia and Great Britain largely established the present boundaries by World War I.

Under the 1946 constitution of the French Fourth Republic a small number of French-educated Africans in Guinea were allowed to vote for deputies to the French National Assembly. In the 1958 referendum on the constitution for the French Fifth Republic only Guinea, under the influence of Sékou Touré, who later became the country’s first president, voted against membership in the French Community and became independent.

Independence

Guinea came to occupy a special position among African states for its unqualified rejection of neocolonial control. Touré’s rule grew increasingly more repressive, however. Denied French assistance, Guinea contracted loans and economic and trade agreements with the former Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China. When it failed to become a full economic partner in the Soviet bloc, Guinea turned to France and the West for capital and technical assistance in the waning years of Touré’s regime. Under Touré’s uncertain economic leadership, however, the potentially wealthy country did not prosper.

Throughout Touré’s rule, difficulties of economic adjustment and political reorganization caused him to become increasingly obsessed with what he perceived as opposition. Probably the event that had the most negative effect was the Portuguese-backed invasion of Conakry by Guinean dissidents. Such real conspiracies, together with a myriad of imaginary ones, led to show trials, imprisonments, and executions of dissidents and other suspects. Gradually power was concentrated in the hands of Touré and his predominantly Malinke associates. Members of his own family occupied leading government posts, from which illicit earnings were drawn on a large scale. Though the Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG), which Touré had led since 1953, retained control, it ceased to enjoy the mass support it had had in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Touré’s death in 1984 left party leaders with little grassroots support. The ensuing military coup began with fairly strong support from the general public.

The Military Committee for National Recovery under Colonel Col. Lansana Conté, Guinea’s second president, endorsed the concept of a pluralist society. Private ownership and international investment were actively supported, while the role of the state in the economy was reduced. In the late 1980s Guinea sought reintegration into French-speaking western Africa and the Franc Zone. The Conté government’s move toward political and economic liberalization was slow, however, and civil unrest and protest continued during the 1990s. In 1996 the government survived an attempted military coup. Despite ongoing turbulence, Conté maintained power until his death on Dec. 22, 2008. Soon after the news of his death was made public, a faction of the military launched a coup and announced that they had dissolved the government; civilian government leaders disputed their claims.. The National Council for Democracy and Development (Conseil National pour la Démocratie et le Développement; CNDD), with Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara as president, was created to serve as a transitional government. The CNDD promised to hold elections within one year and vowed to fight rampant corruption.